Tag: 2024 GOP primary

Pence Raised Just $1.2 Million in the First Quarter

Buck Banks

$1.2 million

“Mike Pence raised less than $1.2 million for his presidential campaign during the second quarter of this year, a figure that is a reflection of both the antipathy toward the former vice president among rank-and-file GOP voters and the deep skepticism among donors that he has a path to the Republican nomination,” the Washington Post reports.

Memo: Desperate DeSantis Scrambling to Reassure Donors, Reignite Campaign

Pensito Editors
NBC.com

An internal memo from the Ron DeSantis presidential campaign acquired by NBC News provides a rare insight into the inner workings of the Florida governor’s seven-week-old primary effort.

The document, dated July 6, lays out the campaign’s strategy of doubling down on New Hampshire, postponing spending on Super Tuesday and singling out Tim Scott as the only other candidate besides Donald Trump who DeSantis sees as a threat.

The memo sums up the candidate field as the DeSantis camp sees it this way:

As it has been for the last year, Trump and DeSantis remain the only viable options for two-thirds of the likely Republican primary electorate. While Tim Scott has earned a serious look at this stage, his bio is lacking the fight that our electorate is looking for in the next President. We expect Tim Scott to receive appropriate scrutiny in the weeks ahead. We’ve found low to no interest in Vivek, Burgum, and Nikki while far too many voters will not consider Pence and Christie for them to feel remotely viable.

Overall, the memo, which is called a “friends and family update” reads like a self–pep talk, an eho-chamber attempt to slap some lipstick on a pig of a campaign and make it seem like everything is going according to plan, rather than down the toilet, as the media have largely characterized it.

Murdochs Souring on DeSantis

Buck Banks

“They are transactional and can smell a loser a mile away,” said one Fox insider, to Rolling Stone.

“Since the beginning of the Biden presidency, the powerful Murdoch family has favored the Florida governor in the 2024 presidential primary, largely due to a conviction that DeSantis would be a more electable, and less chaotic, evolution from Donald Trump. But in recent weeks, the Murdochs have grown increasingly displeased with the DeSantis campaign’s perceived stumbles, lackluster polling, and inability to swiftly dethrone Trump. … They have also seriously questioned whether the governor is capable of defeating Trump in the 2024 GOP presidential primary.”

Despite Poor Poll Numbers, Haley Pulls in $7.3 Million

Buck Banks

$7.3 million

“Nikki Haley raked in $26 million in the second quarter, including $7.3 million in direct donations, demonstrating support from donors, despite persistently low poll numbers,” Bloomberg reports. “The super PAC supporting Haley, Stand For America Fund Inc., raised $18.7 million from April through June, bringing her overall total to $26 million.”

Reason #12: Why DeSantis Is a Bad Governor (and Would Be a Bad President)

Buck Banks

$377 million

Bloomberg: “Florida Republican Governor and 2024 presidential contender Ron DeSantis quietly rejected hundreds of millions of dollars in federal energy funding, as the Biden administration touts the benefits of its marquee climate law on the campaign trail in battleground states. …The funding, totaling about $377 million, included hundreds of millions of dollars for energy-efficiency rebates and electrification as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, as well as money from the bipartisan infrastructure legislation that became law in 2021.”

DeSantis Campaign Stalls

Buck Banks

$20 million

Playbook: “On the fundraising front, there is more evidence of a campaign losing momentum. DeSantis raised $20 million in Q2 despite only being a candidate for six weeks of the reporting period. … But dig into that figure: The $20 million includes an impressive $8.2 million on his first day as a candidate. Which means that after Day One, he raised an average of just over $300,000 a day for the next 36 days of the fundraising quarter.”